i am not really sure, i would assume thats a factor, but actually alot of cars from the 70's where unibody.

My guess is probably gearing, and lack of testing or designing the car to have a hitch and unruly suspensions.

Yes, the transition began then. As it progressed, engineers have been able to produce cars with thinner and thinner sheet metal. The uni-body's today might be "stiffer" than back then, but I have a feeling the old school ones were probably stronger.

Towing capacity has dimished because its not wanted. American's don't care if their car can tow. And OEMS wanted people to move into higher profit margin vehicles, and strip out evrey last piece of unneccesary equipment, testing, and certification off cars that don't have a market case for keeping them.

Unibodies today like the Grand Cherokee, Commander, etc have no issues towing. Its a feature designed in.

Sure, cars from the 70s were built like tanks and could tow as a result. But they were BIG TANKS AND DROVE LIKE IT.

Greasemonkey, how much time have you spent in automotive design? How much comparitive research have you done in other countries? other continents? go to Europe and you'll see cars pulling tons of trailers. The high use of turbodiesels in cars is a nice benefit. Go to brazil, there's a damn trailer hitch on every car you see, and they are all unibodies and smaller than US cars.

Greasemonkey, how much time have you spent in automotive design? How much comparitive research have you done in other countries? other continents? go to Europe and you'll see cars pulling tons of trailers. The high use of turbodiesels in cars is a nice benefit. Go to brazil, there's a damn trailer hitch on every car you see, and they are all unibodies and smaller than US cars.

Its just a narrow minded article. Its written specifically to try to skew perception of statistics.

Its not that cars aren't capable because of government requirements, and that this is eliminating our only possibility of having outdoor recreation. Its that the US public isn't asking for it.

If there was demand, like there is in other countries, then I gurantee that our cars would be developed for it.

Think of the US, how many people who own a trailer own something like a minivan, SUV, or truck, to pull it with. So why would they care if their car has a hitch?

How many people here NEED a 4wd 3/4 ton diesel to tow with? Its not like we get them because our cars aren't burly enough to tow our rigs. Its that we want a truck. I want 4wd to tow my trailer out of my yard 1/4 mile though 18" of snow where I store it. I don't want to be towing with a f'ing grand marquis up the Jellico pass.

Now, again, you go to Europe, people have decent income, and have lots of little travel trailers, but its not practical to own a truck. Trust me, people just don't own pickup trucks in Germany, they drive cars. So, they design their cars to haul trailers, including properly designed transmission ratios, heavy cooling, and yeah, a unibody designed for it.